Winter & Christmas

Honningkager

Honningkager are soft, spiced honey cakes with cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Cut them out as small biscuits or bake them as hearts decorated with icing – a bake that fills the whole house with the scent of Christmas.

Figure-shaped honningkager on a wooden board
Photo: Ole Palnatoke Andersen / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Preparation
30 min
Cooking/baking time
10 min
Servings
approx. 40 pieces
Difficulty
Easy

Ingredients

Dough

Icing

Method

  1. Warm the honey, sugar and butter in a pan until melted, then leave to cool until lukewarm.
  2. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, spices and orange zest. Add the honey mixture and the egg and knead into a smooth, soft dough. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight.
  3. Preheat the oven to 180 °C (conventional). Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about 5 mm thick and cut out hearts or other shapes.
  4. Place on trays lined with baking paper and bake for 8–10 minutes – the cakes should stay soft. Cool on a wire rack.
  5. Mix the icing sugar with water or egg white to a thick icing and decorate the honningkager.

The story behind the dish

Pepper cakes and honey cakes have been baked in Denmark since the end of the 15th century.

The name peberkage (pepper cake) does not necessarily mean there is pepper in the dough: the old word "pebre" simply meant to season.

Enjoy it at Dansk Cottage

Iced honningkager hearts are the Christmas decoration you are allowed to eat – hung in the cottage window with a view of the sea.

The cottage kitchen · Discover Søby · Experience Ærø

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